Category Archives: Math Games

The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

What do Leonard Nimoy, Stana Katic, and Robert Downey Jr. have in common? They all have a Bacon number of 2. The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, a game created early in 1994 by three Albright College students, is a … Continue reading

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Gardner’s Two Tribes

Mathematical conundrums are not always the product of academic rigor.   Sometimes they come from a recreational playground built on the foundation of logic and unique understanding.   Beyond numbers and sets, mathematical thinking is rooted in the ability to … Continue reading

Posted in AMS, Math Games, Mathematics in Society | 1 Comment

The Summer Camp for Academically Talented Middle School Students

I just finished teaching a class at The Summer Camp for Academically Talented Middle School Students (SCATS). SCATS is a summer program offered by The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University for students in grades 6-8. I taught … Continue reading

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Newcomb’s Paradox

In the realm of mathematical puzzles and thought experiments one can find a stock pile of paradoxes.   The Mariam-Webster Dictionary defines a paradox as “an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises.”  One short example … Continue reading

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The Kryptos Cipher

The famous artist Pablo Picasso once said, “ Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.”  These words have taken shape in winding curves and patterns spawned by artistic imagination ever since.     Picasso’s  words have even found a home … Continue reading

Posted in Math Games, Mathematics in Society, Uncategorized | 1 Comment